To hell and back in Cup bid

Michael Sharkie

HE WAS a bit stiff and slightly weary after a 15-hour flight from California to Melbourne, but Dermot Weld was in no mood to complain at Werribee on Monday when inspecting his Melbourne Cup contender Galileo's Choice for the first time in seven weeks.

To the surprise of the media, the Irish trainer refrained from offering his usual comments about firm tracks and the need for rain or watering, and was instead simply relieved that his horse looked in such fine order on the eve of the Melbourne Cup, for which he had endured an arduous journey of his own.

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While Galileo's Choice faced the same 28-hour flight from London to Melbourne that all European tourists encounter, the seven-year-old had already been in transit for 24 hours before setting hoof on a plane, and spent that time locked in a freight container.

The journey began at Weld's Rosewell House stables, where Galileo's Choice was loaded into a freight container that was then sealed by Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service officials.

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He was driven to Dublin where the container was loaded onto a ferry for an 8.30pm sail to Holyhead in Wales. The horse arrived at 6.30am and the container was loaded onto a truck and driven 460 kilometres to a truck stop near London's Heathrow Airport. He waited there, parked on the truck for four hours, before being driven to Heathrow for a 3.30pm flight to Australia.

Little wonder then that Galileo's Choice arrived in Australia a little worse for wear.

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''He had a problem with transit fever when he first arrived but he was able to be treated and got over it very quickly,'' Weld said. ''He has improved every week he's been here and I'm delighted with the horse. He is a very talented galloper.''

''The track is in superb order and should be suitable for every horse,'' he said. ''It's a little firmer than I'd like, but you never know, we might get a spot of rain.''

Ten years have passed since Media Puzzle gave Weld his second Melbourne Cup, and 19 since his first with Vintage Crop.

And, like Vintage Crop, Galileo's Choice won a listed race over 2800 metres in preparation for the Cup, but whereas Vintage Crop then won the group 1 Irish St Leger, Weld preferred Galileo's Choice target the group 3 Ballyroan Stakes, which he won, before leaving for Australia.

''To be honest, the horse would have probably gone and won the St Leger … but you run the risk of getting more weight [for the Melbourne Cup],'' said Weld's son and stable representative, Mark.

''You have to play the game, and under different circumstances in different years we've gone to other tracks for different [preparatory] races, but if you win you get a penalty of a half a kilogram or a kilogram, and in a competitive race like this, that could cost you the Cup.''